The Rosetta Spacecraft Is Locked Into a Crash Course with Its Comet

The Rosetta spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency more than a decade ago, and has spent the last few years orbiting a comet. Soon,that long journey will come to an end, as the Rosetta team sets the spacecraft on a crash course with the comet's surface.

The comet that Rosetta has been studying over the past two years, 67P, is moving too far away from the sun for Rosetta to power itself. So the Rosetta team has decided to use the last few moments of the spacecraft's life to get an up-close look at the comet.

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Rosetta has spent the last few days getting into position, and at 4:50 PM ET today, Rosetta performed the final maneuver that set it on a crash course with the comet. Half a day later, at 6:30 AM ET tomorrow morning, Rosetta will impact the comet and the mission will be over.

You can watch the livestream here, which starts a few hours before Rosetta is scheduled to crash. The livestream will feature updates from mission controllers as they receive confirmation that Rosetta has impacted the comet.